:

    “A man with golden eyes?” Logan’s brows drew together as he listened to her.

    52

    ??-

    “That’s what my grandmother told me,” Emery said. “A man with golden eyes appeared in my father’s study years ago. He spoke to him about me.”

    Logan leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly against the table. He didn’t respond right away, his expression shifting as he considered her words. “If that’s true, then someone already knew you weren’t ordinary. And instead of bringing you into the supernatural world, they wanted to push you as far away from it as possible.”

    Emery gave a slow nod. The thought unsettled her. She still couldn’t wrap her head around why anyone would go so far as to destroy a shipment worth hundreds of millions just to make a point to her father. Who had that kind of power? Who would take such a risk?

    “Were you able to find anything about my mother?” she asked. If she knew more about her mother then perhaps…

    Logan shook his head. “Nothing. Her background is spotless. Too spotless. We’re starting to believe the council had a hand in erasing her past.”

    “The council?” Emery pressed. She remembered the brief mentions she hade across before, but she had never asked Lucille for details.

    “The council are special member of the supernaturals. They are the representatives of each kind. However… no one knows who they are or if they still exist,” Logan said. “They are mere legends. It was said that thest time the council convened was during World War Two.”

    “But you think they are somehow involved in erasing my mother’s past?” Emery asked. How could someone who only existed in legends know her mother?

    “Well, they are the only ones capable of removing an identity of an entire supernatural,” Logan said. “And then there’s this…” he took a folder from his drawer and handed it to her. She opened it and read its contents.

    “You- you think it wasn’t an ident?” The folder contained evidence that what happened at the fertility clinic was not an ident at all! Emery flipped through the folder, her fingers tightening on the edge of the paper. “This can’t be right,” she muttered. “The donor code doesn’t match.”

    Logan leaned forward, his jaw tense. “It matches mine.”

    Her head snapped up. “What?”

    “The vial they used wasn’t the one you selected,” he said. “It wasn’t H–3192. It was mine. X–001 is me. Which is not even located in the same storage system.”

    The words sank in like ice water. Emery felt her breath catch. “But… that means-b‘ /b

    99

    “That someone switched the samples on purpose,” Logan cut in. “They ignored the donor you chose. They made sure the procedure used mine.”

    ? [52

    2 56 vouchers

    Emery stared at him. “So they wanted me pregnant with your child.” A child with a supernatural. This was the warning that her father received.

    Logan gave a grim nod. “That’s the only conclusion we’vee to. They wiped the staff, erased the records, and left nothing behind. Whoever orchestrated this wanted the child to carry my bloodline.”

    Emery’s throat went dry. “But why? If the warning said the Bes would only remain if I had a child with a human, then this–this goes directly against it.”

    “Exactly,” Logan said. He tapped the folder. “It wasn’t an ident, it was designed. Every person involved vanished. The nurse, the embryologist, even the technician who signed the handover were all gone. Even their families were gone. The identities they used barely existed to begin with.”

    Emery pressed a hand against her temple. The reality twisted her stomach. She had walked into that clinic thinking it was her choice, that she had control. But it had been taken from her the moment she stepped inside.

    “They decided my child’s fate before I even knew it,” she whispered.

    Logan’s gaze locked on hers. “And now we need to figure out why. Because whoever did this didn’t just want you pregnant. They wanted you pregnant with me, someone with a supernatural blood.”

    Emery let out a long breath. “This just got a lot moreplicated.”

    Logan stood, pushed his chair back, then dropped to one knee beside her. She leaned back, startled, as he set his palm over her stomach. The curve was small but there, undeniable.

    “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m here. I’ll protect you and the baby.”

    She met his eyes. A short, dry thought crossed her mind. She walked into a clinic thinking she was in control, and now she was sitting here learning someone else had managed the most important choice of her life. They switched the vial. They decided the father. They made her the mother of a supernatural.

    Emery pushed herself up from the chair, smoothing her clothes as she steadied her breathing. Logan rose with her, his presence close at her side.

    “I’ll head to the hospital,” Emery said, adjusting the folder under her arm. Maybe Mary or even Deana remembers something else. Maybe, they can tell her something that she doesn’t already know.

    “Then I’lle with you,” Logan replied without hesitation.

    She shook her head lightly. “I’ll be fine. You already have guards shadowing me everywhere since my father’s ident. You should handle your own matters.” Her tone softened as she thought about how Gabriel had been insisting that Logan talked to his brother. “There are things that you cannot keep putting off.” She remembered how that conversation had been dyed when her father was hurt, left hanging with no resolution.

    Logan didn’t argue. Instead, he reached for her hand, catching her off guard. He pulled it toward him, lowering his head until his lips brushed the back of her palm. The gesture made her freeze.

    “You and our childe before everything else,” he said firmly, his voice leaving no room for doubt.

    12:41 bTue/bb, /bbSep /bb16 /b

    A knock on the door cut through the moment. Sebastian stepped inside, his expression tight. “We have a problem,” he said.

    “What is it?” Logan asked.

    Before Sebastian could exin, another voice carried from the hall. “Well… I didn’t realize my own brother was hiding from me. If I had known he was spending time with his beloved, I would never have intruded.”

    52

    The figure that entered made Emery’s chest tighten. A man dressed in a fitted ck suit strode into the room. At first nce, his build and features mirrored Logan’s so closely it was unsettling. The same sharp jawline, the same height and frame. But there were differences that set him apart. His hair was blond, almost pale against the dark suit, and his eyes, though not glowing, were an unnatural shade of brown, so deep they looked nearly golden.